In the afternoon of Kim Yo-ri, Suzuki once again only arranged training in shooting, dribbling and other techniques, stopped physical training, and let the players go home early to rest.

As usual, the first-graders stayed behind to clean up.

Before the end of the training, Suzuki announced in advance the list of personnel who would fight Buri the next day.

The four third-graders of Miyahe, Yoshino, Lantau and Dahe started, and the last position was reserved for Shuiqiao, the best shooter in northern Hunan except for Dahe.

In addition to the above five, Imai, Endo and Maki were told that they would participate in the rotation, while Yanagisawa and Kuroda were told that they could only be substituted to gain experience if their team was leading by a large margin.

As usual, Takeshi Abe was sent out to spy on the military, and he went to the Akihadai Cultural Gymnasium, where the second division was played against Hainan and Minowa.

Shouldering the same mission as Abe is team manager May Momoi, who will also miss tomorrow's battle between Shobuk and Buri. She went to watch the battle between Lingnan and Sunshita, located at the Hiratsuka Gymnasium.

In the fourth round of the knockout round last week, Coach Kusaka Kimura, based on Nakamura's observations in the warm-up match between Xiangbei and Takeshien, designed tactics in a targeted manner, relying on the advantages of height and experience, grinding down the Takeshi led by Kojiro Hayama and Takatoshi Tsuda, and successfully allowed Kusakata High School to enter the top 8 in the prefecture.

Suzuki didn't send anyone to watch the match between Shoyang and Minowa, he knew that as long as Atsushi Shihara was there, not to mention the prefecture, but also the whole country, there were only a handful of teams that had the hope of defeating Xiangyang, and Xiangbei was obviously not among them.

Instead of digging into the hollow to figure out how to defeat Xiangyang, it is better to focus on the Hainan and Lingnan teams.

In Suzuki's view, Hainan and Lingnan are the stumbling blocks for Xiangbei to attack the national competition.

Coming out of the basketball hall and walking on the path next to the bicycle shed, Suzuki asked Dahedo, "Tomorrow is the game against Buri, are you nervous?" ”

Dahe smiled confidently and said, "How can you be nervous?" It's not the first time we've played in the quarterfinals. I have nothing but joy in my heart now. The thought that after playing Buri, we will be able to enter the final stage of the county competition, take revenge on Hainan, take revenge on Lingnan, and challenge Xiangyang, I tremble with excitement! ”

Suzuki said, "That's good. As long as Dahe is in good shape, we will definitely win tomorrow! ”

Dahe looked up, let out a long whistle, and then said, "Sir, I think so too. ”

The two walked out of the school gate and parted ways.

Suzuki greeted Hanamichi Sakuragi, who was waiting by the wall in front of the school, and the two of them walked to the shopping street and cooked dinner. Suzuki told Sakuragi this morning that he would come out of school early today, so Sakuragi came to the gate of Xiangbei after school to wait for him.

After dinner, when they got home, one of them went to the balcony to do their homework, and the other stayed in the hall to watch the video of the game.

At about 21 o'clock, Sakuragi finished his homework, came out of the inner room, and sat next to him to watch the game together until the video was over.

Suzuki picked an NBA game tape and continued to play it, then went to the kitchen to warm the milk, and when he came back, Sakuragi suddenly asked, "Uncle Suzuki, is this game being played in the United States?" ”

Suzuki replied, "Yes." The NBA is the best basketball league in the world. ”

Sakuragi looked at the TV with his eyes intended, and said, "Uncle Suzuki, can you teach me how to play basketball?" ”

Suzuki was overjoyed, thinking that he had finally subtly made you interested in basketball, for fear that Sakuragi's popularity would disappear, and immediately replied, "Of course you can." Sakuragi, you have good physical fitness, and you're good for basketball. ”

Sakuragi pointed to the TV and said, "Can I be like them?" ”

Suzuki struck while the iron was hot and said, "Of course you can!" I'm sure you can play in the NBA too! ”

Sakuragi nodded, "Okay! I want to learn to play basketball! I'm going to the United States! ”

Suzuki chuckled in his heart, he heard that Sakuragi was talking about going to the United States, not going to the NBA, which showed that going to the United States was Sakuragi's main purpose.

In the United States, there are ......

Sakuragi sensed a little cold, turned his gaze to Suzuki, and said in a flat tone, "I'm going to go to that person and tell her that someone has left us forever and will never see each other again." ”

Suzuki continued to be speechless, he didn't expect that the reason why Sakuragi Hanamichi wanted to play basketball actually returned to the woman, although the woman was no longer Haruko Akagi.

Sakuragi asked, "Uncle Suzuki has a game tomorrow, right?" Can you take me with you? ”

Suzuki readily agreed.

The next morning, Suzuki took Sakuragi and the two came to the Xiangbei Basketball Hall.

Yanagisawa still had an impression of Sakuragi Hanamichi and said, "Aren't you Mr. Suzuki's neighbor?" What happened to your father? Are you okay now? ”

Sakuragi's face froze, then he controlled his voice and replied flatly, "Thank you for your concern." However, my father died two weeks ago. ”

Yanagisawa realized that he had said the wrong thing, and quickly bowed and apologized.

Sakuragi didn't blame Yanagisawa, he knew that Yanagisawa was kind and unintentional, accepted Yanagisawa's salute, and then said, "It's okay. ”

Suzuki was busy checking the state of the starters, and he didn't know what was going on between the two, and when he was done, he turned around and saw the two of them standing together and talking, and approached and said, "Sakuragi, this is Yanagisawa, if you want to learn to play basketball, let him take you to do basic training first." Yanagisawa, this is Sakuragi, don't look at his height, he's only in the sixth grade of elementary school now! ”

As soon as these words came out, the Xiangbei players present were in an uproar.

Sakuragi's current height is not much different from Yanagisawa and Kuroda, and he is already more than one meter six or five by eye, almost six or seven, six or eight. It's still the sixth grade!

Miyagawa said in surprise: "By the time this kid is in his third year of high school, he will definitely surpass me in height!" ”

Suzuki remembered that in the original book, Sakuragi Hanamichi was 189cm in the first grade, and this was still the height affected by the malnutrition and lack of systematic exercise during Sakuragi's junior high school period.

In this life, Sakuragi Hanamichi is not lacking in nutrition, and he started playing basketball in advance, and his height should be higher than the original book, more than 1.9 meters is appropriate.

Suzuki touched Sakuragi's red hair and said, "That's natural, Sakuragi will be our main power forward in Xiangbei in the future!" So, Dahe, Gonghe, hand over your unique skills before graduation, I won't allow you to graduate if you can't teach me! And you, Endo, Mizuhashi, don't think that you have two more years left, and you will be stable! ”

Everyone knew that Suzuki was joking, but they still cooperated in horror and begged for mercy.

Sakuragi looked funny and laughed out loud for the first time in these days.

Suzuki saw that everyone was almost relaxed, so he waved his hand and said, "Let's go now!" Defeat Buri and advance to the round-robin! ”